This American Life, talking to refugees who’d moved to the U.S., mostly from conflict zones, found that the foreigners were shocked by a number of things that Americans might consider routine: public displays of affection, high obesity rates, families shipping their elderly parents off to nursing homes, dog-owners kissing their pets,Christmas lights and widespread gun ownership.

The U.S. can be such a jarringly strange place for many foreign visitors that travel guidebooks detail everything from the dangers of talking politics to tips on respecting Americans’ famously guarded personal space. But what do those visitors find when they actually get here? This American Life spoke to a relatively narrow slice of foreign arrivals, but a thread on public question site Quora, jumping off from the radio segment, asks web users from around the globe to chime in with what surprised them about America. Click on the link.

Like this:

You think we have infrastructure problems…Moscow ground to a halt today as traffic jams blocked 500 kilometers (310 miles) of roads leading into the city center.

“Traffic jams paralyzed practically all the major arteries of the capital on Tuesday morning,” state broadcaster Vesti-24 reported. “The overall length of traffic jams in the capital at 9:45 a.m. exceeds 500 kilometers.”

Moscow and the surrounding region lose 400 billion rubles ($15 billion) a year, or 6 percent of the area’s gross regional product, because of added transport costs and shipping delays, Transport Minister Igor Levitin said on Oct. 1. Moscow’s network lacks up to 400 kilometers of roads, resulting in an average of 650 traffic jams every day, he said.

The best on-line flight reservation systems just merged, as pointed out by intrepid traveler Jeff Ullian. Not too long ago, two companies – Kayak.com and SideStep.com – independently hit upon a new way to shop for travel. Both Kayak and SideStep allow you to search multiple travel sites at once, compare the results, and then buy from whatever travel site you choose. The idea of a “travel search engine” was quickly embraced. Kayak and SideStep have now become the preferred tools of savvy travelers.

Recently Kayak and SideStep decided to merge! We’re combining our strengths and resources – which means a better travel search product for you. Take a look at our new sites at www.sidestep.com or Kayak.com.Now that Kayak and Sidestep have merged, you will notice some new features, such as flight fare history charts or map and photo views of hotels.